


Grow Up, Baby

by Leni



Category: Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-13
Updated: 2011-08-13
Packaged: 2017-10-22 13:52:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/238736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The relationship between Veronica Mars and Don Lamb. <i>It’s all her fault.</i> <b>WARNINGS:</b> This has a Veronica/Lamb vibe to it, and she's very underage for some of it. Also, <span class="u">language</span>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grow Up, Baby

**Author's Note:**

> **WARNINGS:** This has a Veronica/Lamb vibe to it, and she's very underage for some of it. Also,  language.

She is twelve. He is twenty-eight.

“Yes, honey. You can bring your friend in. I don’t mind,” the Sheriff is saying over the phone. He hangs up and rolls his eyes, chuckling as he turns around. “Hey, Don. Ever seen a Kane kid in a police station?”

Don hasn’t been in the same room as a Kane kid. Period. “They old enough to fake an I.D?”

Sheriff Mars sobers up at that. “Not yet.”

Don thinks of the Sheriff’s daughter: pastel loose shirts and white sneakers, a blond mop of hair in a low ponytail, a shy little voice when she asks if her father is in. The day Lilly Kane discovers frat parties and illegal clubs, she’ll drag little Veronica Mars behind her and the girl won’t know how to protest. “Veronica is a special girl,” he says, trying for the Sheriff’s good graces, “Smarter than that.”

The man smirks, gives a confident nod. “She is, isn’t she?”

Don smiles to himself.

Success.

 

*

 

She is thirteen. He is twenty-nine.

She’s blushing and twisting her feet under her chair, ducking her head and groaning when her best friend whispers in her ear.

Lilly Kane looks back toward him, a longer once over this time, and gives him a smile too slow for her age. “Hey.” She elbows her friend again. “Come _on_ , Ronnie.” The whisper is louder now. Or maybe he’s paying closer attention. “The word is ruggedly handsome. Say it with me now.”

“Lilly!”

“If you don’t do it, I will.” Don has met the older Kanes in person. Once. He shouldn’t be surprised to find the mother’s confident stare and the father’s shark grin on the girl. “And I’ll say it was your idea. You know I will.”

Veronica’s head snaps up, and there’s a flash of… something, before Lilly laughs her threat off and Veronica is sighing and rolling her eyes. “He is fine, I guess,” she grumbles, the blush brighter on her cheeks and neck. “Happy now?”

He can’t speak for Lilly Kane, but Don is feeling mighty satisfied with himself.

With sixteen years apart, any man would be.

 

*

 

She is fourteen. He is thirty.

She starts growing into her shirts.

(He starts counting sixteen reasons to hold his gaze above her shoulders.)

 

*

 

She is fifteen and swaying on her feet. He is thirty-one (and keeping his hands to himself).

He stands in the middle of the Casablanca yard, arms crossed before his chest as he tries his best warning glare on her. “I should arrest you, Veronica.”

She blinks, too slowly. Then furrows her brow and bites her lip. “I want my dad.”

“No, you do not,” he laughs. When the frown deepens, he shakes his head at the sight. Silly girl, a pretty doll with the Kane signature on her. A frilly blood-red tank top draws his gaze downwards, deaf to his inner protests. The straps drop down her shoulders, bare shoulders, and tight jeans show promise in those athletic legs. Lilly Kane, the improved version. He barely recognized her in time, took her arm and marched her out of the house before the other officers could see her. “You are so drunk.”

“Am not.”

Steps behind him. Don turns his head to find Lilly Kane striding across the pool area towards them. A vision of self-confidence, flanked by brother and boyfriend. The 09’er trinity of the next generation. Kanes and Echolls to protect one little Mars – no wonder the Sheriff feels secure in his position.

“What’s the matter, Deputy?”

Kanes and Echolls, he reminds himself. He won’t be made the lamb for this sacrifice. “There was a call about rowdy behavior. We came, found alcohol on the premises.”

Lilly Kane puts her hand to cover a fake yawn. “So?”

“You are all underage, Miss Kane.”

“Underage people shouldn’t drink alcohol,” Veronica intones. Good to know that under those clothes, the Sheriff’s daughter still peeks through. Not the only see-through element on her person, but Don tears his gaze away as soon as he notices it. Veronica is practically squinting now. “I told you, Lilly.”

“She did,” Lilly confirms. Then she shrugs. “Here’s what you’ll do, Deputy. You’ll let my friend go. You’ll forget you saw us here. And you’ll take the kegs, too. It was growing boring anyway.” As the boys behind her mutter a protest, she tosses her hair back and arches an eyebrow at her boyfriend. “This is _not_ the fun night I was promised.”

“It was fun,” Veronica contradicts. She makes to walk towards her best friend, maybe to share her reasoning. But she trips and falls onto him.

He catches her.

What else is he supposed to do?

He holds onto her, feels her warm and soft and… “I _really_ should arrest you.”

“I don’t think so.” Duncan Kane comes to the rescue, takes the girl and leads her back into the house. Logan offers to help, and between the two of them, Veronica’s feet don’t even touch the grass.

Kanes and Echolls, indeed.

Papa Mars should be proud.

“I have a secret. Your secret,” the remaining girl sing-songs. “Naughty, naughty.” She takes one daring step forward and then another, juts her chin out, and flicks at a button of his uniform coat. “Wait your turn, Deputy Lamb. Patience is a virtue.” She laughs at his angry glare. “But between you and me? I don’t think my brother is letting go.”

It’s the truth as Lilly Kane knows it.

It’s the world as Lilly Kane makes it.

It’s the last time he talks to her.

So long, bitch.

 

*

 

She is sixteen. Only sixteen. He doesn't care.

There is a desk between them. No Kanes and no Echolls to back her up this time.

“Go see the Wizard,” he says.

She is no longer special. No longer _enough_.

“Ask him for a backbone.”

He doesn’t expect to see her back.

 

*

 

She is seventeen and on the warpath. He is buried in paperwork and loose ends.

It’s all her fault.

When Madison Sinclair winks at him in the middle of another party raid (no blushes, no pastels, no guilt), Don smiles back.

Might be her fault, too.

 

The End  
09/09/10


End file.
